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Regardless of the flaws associated with FairTax and other tax code simplification plans, there's one thing we should all be able to agree on: Something needs to be changed.

Nina Olson, the IRS' national taxpayer advocate, estimates that the preparation of IRS Form 1040 takes up 3.6 billion hours per year -- 26 hours and 40 minutes per person. In all, tax preparation takes up about 7.6 billion work hours per years.

This is time that doesn't create anything or enrich lives. Companies like H&R Block have amassed multi-billion dollar market caps by taking advantage of the complexity of the tax code and the fact that many people need help navigating the byzantine world created by the IRS. Troublingly, H&R Block's business has proven to be recession-proof, meaning that as incomes decline, tax preparation fees take up an ever-larger percentage of our time and income.

Maybe tax cuts will help stimulate the economy and maybe they won't: But President-elect Obama must do something to simplify the mess that is the IRS. Otherwise, look for the tax-preparation business to continue to be a growth industry.

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The Affordable Care Act put in place significant tax-related programs that impact Medicare and Medicaid, such as increased Medicare taxes on earned and unearned income for high-wage earners, and Medicaid changes that increase the number of insured individuals. Establishing whether you are affected by the ACA-imposed taxes, or are eligible for certain health programs that fall under the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is determined by filing your income tax.

There?s a fine line between looking to save money on your taxes and taking deductions that will raise eyebrows at the Internal Revenue Service. Some taxpayers are tripped up by expenses that they assume are tax deductions, but don?t qualify under IRS guidelines. Here are a dozen items that can lead to unpleasant surprises in case of an audit.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA), also referred to as Obamacare, affects how millions of Americans will prepare their taxes in the new year. The law now includes penalties for all who haven?t obtained health insurance -- and those penalties are expected to be paid at tax time. The ACA also provides tax credits to help people pay for insurance, and you can claim those credits when you file your taxes. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has introduced a number of tax forms to accommodate the ACA.

The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, requires most Americans to have health insurance that meets a government standard known as "minimum essential coverage," or MEC. Whether your insurance qualifies as MEC depends not on the plan itself, but on how you obtained your coverage.

In 2014 the Affordable Health Care Act, also known as Obamacare, introduced three new tax forms relevant to individuals, employers and health insurance providers. They are forms 1095-A, 1095-B and 1095-C. These forms help determine if you need to comply with the new shared responsibility payment, the fee you might have to pay if you don't have health insurance. For individuals who bought insurance through the health care marketplace, this information will help to determine whether you are able to receive an additional premium tax credit or have to pay some back.